Empty Rooms Are Vacant Homes
I met up tonight with an assortment of people. David and Andy came over, and there was a short cameo from Ashley Pearson. We listened to some Eno and relaxed on the deck, and Andy was really interested in getting some ideas down in Reason. So the three of us whipped out the synth and spread Reason out across two monitors and began working, generating ideas, passing around the keyboard.
We checked out one of David’s friend’s pictures (search for Rumpid on deviantart.com) and found a really interesting picture of a lamp, in pieces, put on a bed. It reminded all of us of vacating and leaving old lives to start new ones, or reclaim old ones. Then we started to turn the gears a bit: Andy’s seed started the whole thing, a short chord progression that he had dreamed while we were on the deck. I have a feeling it was searching through the library of sounds that inspired the specific notes that he played, but they set a great backdrop for David to add his part. David brought color to the whole thing: “I’m going to play one note, and I don’t know which one” (Which, by the way, is the best way to make this sort of music). Throughout the piece you’ll hear this gorgeous dissonant bell, which David is responsible for. I sat at the helm and did a lot of clicking, a lot of copying and pasting, and I added the rhythmic bits for cohesiveness. We all sort of came together on the random sounds to tie the piece together. The title was half mine (first half) and half David’s idea (other half). So, this was a little more elaborate than the previous piece I wrote for the Still Life project, but definitely a fun experience. It’s best heard on headphones with the volume on medium-low. Please leave comments if you liked it or hated it. Right click and save target as to keep it.